Accessibility

Freedom of Information

The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is to give you the right to access information held by organisations that receive public funds, such as central government departments, local authorities, police forces, health services, schools, colleges and universities. The aim is to promote better public understanding of how these organisations carry out their duties, why and how they make the decisions they do and how they spend tax payers’ money.

The College is committed to promoting a culture of openness and accountability and information about the College can be accessed in two ways:

The College makes information available proactively through our publication scheme. The publication scheme sets out what information we routinely make available and how you can access it without needing to make a formal written request. In many cases the information is available on our website. For other information contained in the scheme, you may need to phone us on 01226 776000 or email us at dpofficer@northern.ac.uk and we will send you the information. We will try to do this within 3-5 working days.

There is no charge for any of the information contained in the publication scheme in the format indicated.

  • The corporate status of the Northern College is conferred by the relevant statutes, in particular the Education Reform Act of 1988 and the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The legislation is publicly available on the HMSO website.

    HMSO Website

  • The Memorandum and Articles of Association and Standing Orders set out how the College is governed and can be found on the governance web page.

    Governors’ Documents

  • The College is a registered charity, details of which can be found on the Charity Commission website.

    Charity Commission 

  • The College is a company limited by guarantee, details of which can be found on the Companies House website.

    Companies House 

  • An organisation chart outlines the College staffing structure.

    Please contact us for an organisation chart

  • The governance web page provides biographical information about members of the Board of Governors.

    College Governance

  • The Financial Statements annual report contains a brief description of constitution and powers and a summary of the College’s structure of corporate governance, as well as a list of governors and membership of committees of the Board of Governors.

    Financial Statements – See ‘What we spend and how we spend it’

  • Our website provides details of key staff in the College.

    Key staff

  • Location and contact details

    Contact us

  • Mission, values and strategic themes

    Mission, Values, Strategic Themes

  • The mission, values and strategic objectives outline the college’s strategic priorities.

    Mission, Values, Strategic Themes

     

  • The self-assessment and quality improvement plan gives details of college achievements against a wide range of performance indicators, including student retention and achievement, the profile of Northern College students and developments relating to teaching and learning.

    Northern College Self-Assessment 2016/17

    Northern College Self-Assessment 2017/18

  • Our public benefit statement outlines our aims, beneficiaries and how we measure impact.

    Public Benefit Statement 

  • The financial statements annual report section provides a summary of our progress against a range of key performance areas.

    See ‘What we spend and how we spend it’

  • Submission documents for the validation of accredited programmes and moderation reports on academic programmes provide information regarding academic performance.

    Available by email on request

  • Ofsted inspection reports provide an external evaluation of the College’s quality of teaching, learning and assessment across all of its provision and grades sector subject areas, overall effectiveness, outcomes for learners, quality of teaching, learning and assessment and the effectiveness of leadership and management.

    Northern College Ofsted Report 

  • Other external assessment reports including, for example, Investors in the Environment and Matrix provide further external evaluation of the College performance in specific areas.

    Available on request by email

  • The College has a governance structure through which decisions are made.

    Confirmed minutes of the meetings of the Board of Governors and its committees are published on the governance web page. (Please note that some of the minutes may be confidential and therefore will not be routinely available. Access to confidential minutes will be considered on a case by case basis in response to a written FOI request.)

    Governance Structure

     

    College Governance – Minutes

  • Papers for meetings of the Board of Governors and its committees are available on request by email. (Please note that some of the papers may be confidential and therefore will not be routinely available. Access to confidential papers will be considered on a case by case basis in response to a written FOI request.)

    Available on request by email

  • The Governors’ Code of Conduct includes a section on collective responsibility and decision making.

    Governors’ Documents 

  • Minutes of the College’s key committees and decision making groups are available on request by email. (Please note that some of the minutes may be confidential and therefore will not be routinely available. Access to confidential minutes will be considered on a case by case basis in response to a written FOI request.)

    Available on request by email

  • Register of Governor/Senior Staff Interests

    Available on request by email

  • Freedom of Information Disclosure Log

    Available on request by email

  • Data Protection Requests

    Available on request by email

If the information you require is not available via the College’s publication scheme you will need to put your request in writing. You have the right to ask for information which we hold on any subject or relating to any particular topic. This right covers only recorded information including information held on computers, in emails and in printed or handwritten documents.

You should make your request in writing to:

The Data Protection Officer
Northern College
Wentworth Castle
Lowe Lane
Stainborough
Barnsley
S75 3ET

01226 776016

dpofficer@northern.ac.uk

We will write to you to acknowledge your request and let you know the deadline by which we will respond. You should expect a response from us within twenty working days. We may need more details from you or clarification of what you want before we can either locate the information or respond appropriately. Our response will let you know whether we hold the information, and, if we do, we will either supply a copy of it or set out the reasons why we believe an exemption applies.

Advice on submitting a request is available from the Information Commissioner.

The FOIA sets out a series of exemptions to protect confidential or other information where disclosure may prejudice the interests of the College or of third parties.

The act does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the cost of finding or copying the information would be disproportionately high. Similarly public authorities are not obliged to respond to vexatious or repeated requests. Public authorities are not expected to comply with requests for information unless the person making the request gives enough of a description to allow the information required to be identified.

The act also lists a number of exemptions to the right of access. Public authorities are not required to release information to which an exemption in the act legitimately applies. However, they may be required to explain to the applicant why they are not releasing information and they may also have to justify this to the Information Commissioner.

The exemptions include:

  • information already accessible elsewhere – if this is the case, we will endeavour to direct you to the authority which holds the information
  • information provided to us in confidence
  • personal information – this is covered by the Data Protection Act and is only available to the individual concerned
  • information which might endanger the physical or mental health or the personal safety of an individual or group of individuals
  • information intended for future publication – if we are planning to publish this information, you may have to wait until it is published before you can access it
  • information which would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of a public authority
  • information which would prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs
  • certain exemptions are subject to a public interest test which means that public authorities may be required to release information if the public interest is deemed to outweigh any concerns that the public authority may have about making the information available

Further information about exempted information, including a full list of exemptions is available from the Information Commissioner.

If your request is refused, we will tell you why and identify which exemption we are applying.

 

 

 

There may be a charge for complicated requests, but we will try to deal with simple and routine requests at no cost to you. Any fees will be calculated in accordance with the fees regulations set out in the Freedom of Information Act.

The act states that we must release information we hold but we do not have to produce new information in response to a request. We will not undertake fresh research on a subject in order to respond to a request.

If you are unhappy about the way in which your request has been handled (usually if your request for information has been denied, in whole or in part), you should complain to the College in the first instance.

An internal review of your request will be undertaken by a senior manager who was not involved in handling your original request. Details of how to submit a request for an internal review will be provided in the letter setting out our original response.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or internal review, you may apply to the Information Commissioner who will investigate the case and determine whether your request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of the act.

The Information Commissioner
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545700
Email: data@dataprotection.gov.uk
Website: www.ico.org.uk

Further information about citizens’ rights under the Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act, the Environmental Information Regulations and other related legislation is available from:

The Information Commissioner
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

You can call the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745. It’s open between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Website: www.ico.org.uk

For more information about how to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office please see: www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us

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The Northern College for Residential Adult Education Ltd is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company number 1339524. Registered charity number 507245 – VAT Registration No: 183234078. Registered office: The Northern College, Wentworth Castle, Stainborough, Barnsley, S75 3ET. Northern College is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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